this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2023
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How the dead are counted in Gaza (www.bbc.com)
submitted 2 years ago by LollerCorleone@kbin.social to c/worldnews@kbin.social
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The BBC has been looking in detail at how the casualty figures are totalled.

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[–] livus@kbin.social 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Thanks, this is a good article. A couple of the NGOs have said that historically the estimates have been fairly close. The possibility of an undercount is probably higher given the volume of bombs.

[–] LollerCorleone@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Yep, they have been pretty close to final death tolls published by the UN for the previous wars.

— 2008 war: The ministry reported 1,440 Palestinians killed; the U.N. reported 1,385.

— 2014 war: The ministry reported 2,310 Palestinians killed; the U.N. reported 2,251.

— 2021 war: The ministry reported 260 Palestinians killed; the U.N. reported 256.

While Israel and the Palestinians disagree over the numbers of militants versus civilians killed in past wars, Israel’s accounts of Palestinian casualties have come close to the Gaza ministry’s. For instance, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the 2014 war killed 2,125 Palestinians — just a bit lower than the ministry’s toll.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-gaza-health-ministry-health-death-toll-59470820308b31f1faf73c703400b033

[–] livus@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This is interesting:

While Israel and the Palestinians disagree over the numbers of militants versus civilians killed in past wars, Israel’s accounts of Palestinian casualties have come close to the Gaza ministry’s.

But Israel is always going to overestimate militant numbers. In these kinds of wars simply having been killed qualifies any male over 14 as a "combatant".